Auxiliary verbs in English play a very important grammatical role. They do not have a translation into Russian, which makes them especially difficult for students.
Why are auxiliary verbs needed?
This group of words is required to compose statements in various tense forms. Conditionally, we can divide these helping verbs into 2 groups:
- those that are present in all types of sentences and are part of a compound verbal predicate:
I will remember about this. – I will remember this. (will is an auxiliary verb in the simple future tense Future Simple)
I will not (won’t) forget about this. - I won't forget about this.
Will you remember about this? – Will you remember this?
- verbs that appear only in negative and interrogative sentences:
I love reading scary stories. – I love reading scary stories.
Do you love reading scary stories? – Do you like to read scary stories? (verb do – auxiliary in the present simple tense Present Simple)
I don’t love reading scary stories. – I don’t like reading scary stories.
Only a few English verbs can be auxiliary: to be, to have, to do, will. These words also have independent meanings and can be used in sentences as semantic ones.
I have just done my homework. - I just did my homework. (to have is an auxiliary verb in the present completed tense Present Perfect)
I have a lot of tasks to do. – I have a lot of tasks left. (to have is a semantic verb)
Mary will make a delicious cake. – Maria will bake a delicious cake. (will is an auxiliary verb in the future simple tense Future Simple)
She doesn't know what else to will. “She doesn’t know what else to wish for.” (will is an independent verb)
It is necessary to learn to distinguish in what capacity one or another of the verbs listed above is used, so as not to make mistakes during translation. Helper words have no equivalents in Russian sentences.
He will go on a voyage around the world. - He will go on a circumnavigation of the world. (Wrong: He will go on a circumnavigation of the world.)
Table “Auxiliary verbs in English”
To make it easier to memorize helper words, it is necessary to combine them into a summary table indicating grammatical tenses and types of sentences according to the purpose of the statement. Some verbs can be used in pairs.
| Affirmative sentences | Negations | Questions | |
|
(simple present) |
– | don't/doesn't | does |
|
Present Continuous (present continuous) |
am/is/are | am not/isn’t/aren’t | Am/Is/Are |
|
(present completed) |
have/has | haven't/hasn't | Have/Has |
|
Present Perfect Continuous (present completed continuous) |
have been/has been | haven't been/hasn't been | Have been/Has been |
|
(simple past) |
– | didn't = didn't | Did |
|
(past continuous) |
was/were | wasn't/weren't | Was/Were |
|
(past complete) |
had | hadn't | Had |
|
Past Perfect Continuous (past completed continuous) |
had been | hadn't been | Had been |
|
(future simple) |
will | will not = won't | Will |
|
Future Continuous (future continuous) |
will be | won't be | Will be |
|
(future completed) |
will have | won't have | Will have |
|
Future Perfect Continuous (future completed continuous) |
will have been | won't have been | Will have been |
A verb is a part of speech that denotes an action. There are two types of verbs in English: semantic and auxiliary. Semantic ones carry a certain meaning, that is, they denote an action or state. For example: wait, love, miss, run.
What are auxiliary verbs for? What are they? When theyare they used and who do they help? Now I'll tell you.
What are auxiliary verbs for?
Auxiliary the verbs have no meaning and cannot be translated in any way. They act as pointers that help us determine:
- Time of what is happening (present, future, past),
- Number of characters (many or one).
The following auxiliary verbs exist in English: be, do, have. We will look at each of them in more detail later, but for now let’s figure out what an “auxiliary verb” is.
How in Russian?
It is very difficult for Russian people to understand what an “auxiliary verb” is and why it was invented in the first place. In fact, everything is very simple. In Russian, in order to understand at what time an action is performed and who performs it, we change the endings.
... ghoul la- tells us that there was one person (a woman) and in the past (yesterday or some time ago) she went outside and breathed some air for a while.
... ghoul no- tells us that one person in the present went outside and breathes air for some time (now).
... ghoul eat- tells us that many people in the present have gone outside and are breathing air for some time (now).
As you can see, in Russian we change the word itself (the ending) and thanks to this we understand who did the action and when.
How in English?
The English (luckily for us) are too lazy to change words, because then their language would be very complex. So they decided they would put extra little words before actions. These little words will show the time and number of people who perform the action.
Attention: Do you want to overcome the language barrier and speak English? Find out in Moscow how our students begin to speak in 1 month!
In this case, we only change small words (auxiliary verbs) before actions, and not the verbs themselves. Let's look at how this happens.
Let's take a semantic verb swim(more precisely its swimming form).
Swimming in the pool.
___ ______ swim in the pool
We understand WHAT a person/people do - they rake the water with their hands in order to stay on it and not drown. But can we understand WHEN a person/people do this? Yesterday? Today now? Tomorrow? And can we understand how many people do this action? One? Or more than one? No.
Now let's add the auxiliary verb be:
am swimming
float ayu
are swimming
float yut
were swimming
float Ali
will be swimming
will floating t
Now we see that:
- In the first case, a person talks about himself, and the action takes place in the present moment, now ( am swimming)
- in the second, we are talking about several people (more than one) and in the present tense ( are swimming)
- in the third case, we have the past tense, that is, the action was yesterday or has already happened, and there are many people ( were swimming)
- in the fourth, we are talking about the future tense ( will be swimming)
We do not translate the auxiliary verb, but it helps us translate the semantic verb it is paired with in the correct time and number.
By the way, in Russian there is still one auxiliary verb. You all know it - this word “will”. When we talk about the future, we say “I will be, he will be, we will be.” This is what points us to the future.
I will dance all night.
We we will swim.
What auxiliary verbs are there in English?
As I already said, there are not many auxiliary verbs in English: do, have, be. These same verbs can also be semantic and have meaning:
- do - to do,
- have - to have,
- be - to be.
Important: I will say again that we consider these verbs as auxiliary verbs. Therefore they are not translated. Let's compare the sentences in the examples.
He is a doctor.
He is doctor. (Here be is a semantic verb. It carries the meaning “to be, to appear.”)
He is going to a doctor.
He goes to the doctor. (Here be is an auxiliary verb - it helps to understand that the action (the semantic verb “to go”) is happening at the present time)
They have a cat.
They have cat. (Here have is a semantic verb. It carries the meaning “to have, to own.”)
They have fed a cat already.
They have already fed the cat. (Here have is an auxiliary verb. It helps to understand that the action (feed) has already been completed recently.)
I do my homework.
I I do my homework. (Here do is a semantic verb. It carries the meaning of “to do.”)
Do do you learn English?
Do you learn English? (Here do is an auxiliary verb. It helps to understand that the action (learn) is happening at the present time.)
Auxiliary verb be
Now we will look at all forms of auxiliary verbs in different tenses: Present, Past and Future.
| Pronouns | Present tense (Present Tense) |
Past tense (Past Tense) |
Future (Future Tense) |
| I | am | was | will |
| you, they, we | are | were | will |
| he, she, it | is | was | will |
She is sleeping.
She is sleeping.
They are dancing now.
They are dancing now.
We were watching TV, when he came.
We were watching TV when he arrived.
My sister will go abroad.
My sister will go abroad.
We examined this verb in its semantic form in great detail in these articles:
Auxiliary verb do
| Pronouns | Present tense (Present Tense) |
Past tense (Past Tense) |
Future (Future Tense) |
| I | do | did | will |
| you, they, we | do | did | will |
| he, she, it | does | did | will |
I don’
t know it.
I don't know this.
She doesn't like to sing.
She doesn't like to sing.
He didn't watch this film.
He didn't watch this movie.
They will give up smoking.
They will quit smoking.
Auxiliary verb have
| Pronouns | Present tense (Present Tense) |
Past tense (Past Tense) |
Future (Future Tense) |
| I | have | had | will have |
| you, they, we | have | had | will have |
| he, she, it | has | had | will have |
I have lived here for five years.
I lived here for five years.
She has worked as a doctor since 2007.
She has worked as a doctor since 2007.
They had read this text.
They finished reading this text.
We will have prepared it, before you come.
We'll have it ready before you arrive.
As you can see, auxiliary verbs are very important because they help us determine what tense is being used and how many people are involved. So don’t forget about them, even though we don’t translate them.
I hope you now understand what auxiliary verbs are and how and when to use them. Now let's move on to practice!
Reinforcement task
And now, to consolidate, translate the following sentences into Russian, pay attention to our pointers - auxiliary verbs:
1. He will go to the cinema.
2. My sister is playing tennis now.
3. They have broken the window.
4. I don’t speak Spanish.
5. We will dance all night.
6. She didn’t take this pen.
7. You will not buy this dress.
As always, write your answers in the comments.
To form complex forms of the predicate in an English sentence, auxiliary verbs are used, playing a crucial role in conjugating the English verb ( formation of verb tenses), they have no independent meaning and are only indicators of time, person, number, voice.
Auxiliary verbs:
Auxiliary verbs - participate in the formation of all verbal tenses, with the exception of the affirmative form Present and Past Indefinite. Auxiliary verbs have no independent meaning and only carry out various grammatical meanings, being indicators of tense, person, number, voice, and so on. The action itself is expressed by semantic verbs in combination with which they are used.Present - present time.
- Affirmative form I work; There is no auxiliary verb
- Interrogative form Do I work?
- Negative form I do not work;
- Do I not work?
Past Indefinite - Past indefinite tense.
- Affirmative form I worked; There is no auxiliary verb
- Interrogative form Did I work?
- Negative form I did not work;
- Interrogative - negative Did I not work?
List of auxiliary verbs
- to do; [ tu: du: ]
- shall, shall; [ ʃal ], [ʃʊd]
- will, would; [ wɪl ], [wʊd ]
- to be [ tu:bi]
- to have [ tu: hæv] (not always auxiliary);
Note. There is only one auxiliary verb in Russian be.
Verb to do Information on the use and conjugation of the verb to do is available on a separate page. Verb "to-do" To correctly understand the following information, you need to look at the conjugation table for the verb to do. (opens in a new tab)
Verbs: shall, should, will, would.
- should is the past tense form of the verb shall these verbs are used with pronouns: I - I and we - we
- would is the past tense form of the verb will these verbs are used with pronouns: you - you, you, he - he, she - she, it - he, she, it (about objects, about animals), they - they
Verbs: shall, will are used in the formation of affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences in all forms of the future tense with all indicative verbs, except modal ones. Shall - used to express future action with the first person singular and plural. will - used to express future action with the second and third person singular and plural.
The verb shall is also used in interrogative sentences when the speaker asks for advice to do or not to do this or that action: Shall I sign here? - Should I sign up here?
Note. In modern English, the verb shall is replaced by the verb will, that is, if you say: I will be at the cafe tomorrow - I'll be at the cafe tomorrow. It won't be a mistake.
Verbs: should, would used as auxiliary:
- When forming affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences in all forms future in past tense indicative mood with all verbs (except modal).
- In sentences in the subjunctive mood;
- Like modal verbs.
Auxiliary verb conjugations
- Conjugation table for the verb to do
- Conjugation table
Which denotes an action or state. Depending on what meaning the verb has and whether it has it at all, as well as what role it plays in the sentence, all English verbs can be divided into three groups: semantic verbs ( notional verbs), service ( semi-auxiliary verbs) And ( auxiliary verbs). Semantic verbs have a meaning, and in a sentence they are a simple verbal predicate. Service verbs have no lexical meaning, and are used in a sentence only as part of a compound nominal or verbal predicate. We will talk in more detail about auxiliary verbs in English.
What are the auxiliary verbs in English?
Auxiliary verbs in English have no lexical meaning. These verbs are used only in conjunction with semantic verbs to create compound (analytic) forms.
Here are the most common verbs:
- to be (am, are, is, was, were, been);
- to do (do, does, did);
- to have (have, has, had);
- shall (should);
- will (would).
Verb to be in certain forms are used to form the simple present ( ) and past tenses ( ). The choice of the form of this verb in the indicated tenses depends on the number and person of the subject. Am– for 1 person, units. numbers; are– for 1 person plural. numbers, 2 persons singular and many more numbers, 3rd person plural numbers; is– for a third party units. numbers. In the past time was is used for the singular, and were– for plural. It is part of a compound predicate in the present, past and future continuous tense ( / / ). Examples:
She is at the hospital now. “She’s in the hospital now.”
We were next to your house yesterday. – Yesterday we were near your house.
I am working at the moment. – I’m working at the moment.
An auxiliary verb in English like to do has three forms: do/does/did. Form does used with the third person singular, in other cases we choose do. This applies to the simple present tense - Present Simple. In the simple past tense - Past Simple– we use only a verb did. This auxiliary verb is needed to form interrogative and negative sentences in the listed tenses. Examples:
She doesn't do her work thoroughly. - She doesn't do her job thoroughly.
You did not find a way out. – You didn’t find a way out.
He doesn't feel good. - He feels bad.
Auxiliary to have has three forms: have, has, had. This verb is used to form the compound forms of the present, past and future perfect tenses ( / / ) and the same perfect continuous tenses in English ( / / ). Form have needed for all persons and numbers except the third person singular. In this case we use the form has. It's all in the present tense. In the past - form had for all subjects. Examples:
He has just written the letter. - He just wrote a letter.
We had finished building this house when they came. – By the time they arrived, we had already finished building the house.
Auxiliary verbs in English, namely shall And will, are needed for education. We are talking about simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous tenses ( , Future Continuous, Future Perfect , Future Perfect Continuous). Currently auxiliary verb shall is practically not used, and previously it was used with 1st person pronouns, both singular and plural. Forms should / would needed in sentences that follow the rules. Examples:
My father will come in two days. - My father will arrive in two days.
We shall be cooking tomorrow. - Tomorrow we will cook.
A friend of mine told me he would read this book at the weekends. My friend said that he would read this book over the weekend.
Auxiliary verbs in English are not numerous, but it is necessary to know them, since the formation and use of the tenses of this language depend on them.
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.